For the Greater Good || Tom Riddle ||

Chapter Ten: Until Spring

"Listen carefully, this will only be said once. You are to travel to the location and make contact with an anonymous informant. With the informant's instructions, you will attain the Stone. Once you attain the Hallow, you will be contacted by one of the Court Members. You will not, however, part with the Hallow until the following meeting in spring. Grindelwald will summon you during the spring holiday. You will then deliver the Hallows that are not currently in Grindelwald's possession to the Court. Nothing less than complete success is expected during this mission. Do you accept?"

Her father's words from what felt like so long ago echoed in her head.

Gwen had remained hidden in the girl's dormitory for the remainder of the day after reading the note sent from her grandfather. Feelings of anxiety had begun to plague her to the point in which she felt physically sick to her stomach.

She didn't even show her face at dinner or meet Simon in the common room for prefect duties. Whenever she closed her eyes, Gwen imagined her grandfather's stern face staring straight into her soul.

His concise message was haunting her.

Gwendolyn,

Forest

Midnight

Bring package for delivery

- G.G.

She had no package to deliver. She didn't have the Stone. She hadn't been contacted by a member of the Court after she visited Little Hangleton. Gwen hadn't even thought about it when she found out the Ministry was going to flood the small village to investigate the Riddle murders.

What am I going to do?

***

Nightfall had come and midnight was upon her. She due to go to the Forbidden Forest at any moment. Gwen practically had to drag herself out of the dormitory, but she knew that if she didn't show up, the consequences would be even worse.

She sat up slowly, stepping softly on the ground in order not to wake Jane or the other three girls. She decided against bringing the Invisibility Cloak, just in case her grandfather tried to seize it from her.

Gran gave it to me... Therefore, it's mine.

Perhaps that was dangerous thinking, but she knew she was in trouble regardless. The Court didn't need the Cloak until the spring holiday.

She snuck out of the room, careful to avoid the wooden step that always groaned under weight. The blue flames that typically lighted the Common Room were gone (no doubt put out because of what happened with the Ashwinder incident), and Gwen had to feel her way through the darkness, too scared to cast lumos in fear that the light would wake someone up.

She slipped silently out of the Ravenclaw Common Room and down the hall. Hogwarts was very quiet, save for the snores of the witches and wizards that occupied the frames lining the corridors. Ravenclaw and Slytherin were due to prowl the premises for prefect duties that week, but Gwen was careful to avoid the common routes.

She clutched her wand so tightly in her left hand that her fingers began to throb as she made her way toward the Forbidden Forest. The winding path felt like it went on for eternity before she entered the tree line. She walked for ten minutes, deeper and deeper into the Forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick.

Snap.

Gwen quickly turned around in fright at the sound of a twig snapping in half. It was as though an iron fist had suddenly clenched around her heart. She knew creatures lurked in the Dark Forest at night, but she had never seen one. Her eyes scanned the bushes, the branches, the canopy, but there was nothing nor no one was there.